In our campaign, we are currently 8th level In the silver marches.My character is a Shield Dwarf Fighter 6. His scores are:Str 19 (Ability Point)Dex 14Con 18 (+2 from Dwarf)Int 15Wis 13Cha 13 (-2 from Dwarf)

My dilemma is what class should I level in next? I feel like another two levels in fighter is a waste and I've held back the two levels because my DM is requiring me to find an instructor in character to teach me to be a warblade, so my goal was maybe Fighter 6/Warblade 14 or Fighter 6/Warblade 9/Deepstone Sentinel 5.

Should I keep waiting or level in something else? My DM allow us to cross class to non-complex classes, such as rogue, fighter, barbarian, and others. Our group is kind of in the middle of a massive dungeon too and we're holding on to dear life and being the appropriate level would help, same class or different class. If I did do two more levels in fighter, I also have one feat to select because my DM let me repick one because of a complication in game, and I would get a total of two feats to select if I put two levels in fighter.

Lion Spirit Totem barbarian (Complete Champion) for 1 level. It lets you trade the speed bonus for Pounce, which is pure sexiness. If he'll let you do it, then Wolf Totem Barbarian at class level 2 is also worthwhile.
And take Leap Attack as your extra feat. Or Battle-Hardened.

"Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter." -Condoleezza Rice
"My fellow Americans... I've just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. Bombing begins in five minutes." - Ronald Reagan
This user has been banned from you by the letters "O-R-C" and the numbers "2, 3, 4, and 6"

I do, however, have one last lesson on this subject.
That last one? The only build in this post that can one-shot average opponents[by dealing twice as much damage as they have HP?
I would argue that it is not optimized.
Why isn't it optimized?
Because it's overkill.
Overkill is NOT optimizing.
This means that there are portions of this build dedicated to damage which can safely be removed and thrown elsewhere. For example, you probably don't need both Leap Attack AND Headlong Rush at the same time. You could pick up Extra Rage feats for stamina, feats to support AoO effects, feats that work towards potential prestige classes, and so on.
However, you could also shift our ability scores around somewhat.
I mean, if you're getting results like that with 16 starting Strength, maybe you can lower it to 14, and free up four points to spend somewhere else - perhaps back into Charisma, giving you some oomph for Intimidating Rage or Imperious Command if you want.
You can continue to tune this until it deals "enough" damage - and that "enough" does not need to be "100%". It could easily be, say, 80% (leaving the rest to the team), if your DM is the sort who would ban one-hit killers.

Tempest_Stormwind on Character Optimization

So when do you think Bachmann will be saying she met a mother the previous night that had a son who got a blood transfusion using a gay guy's blood, and now the son is retardedly gay?

I didn't think of that, AmericanRoulette. It would be ideal for my original design and I'm only partially deferring levels that way.

I would still think it rather sucks as a compromise. I don't like your DMs rule, it sounds very arbitrary. He seems to be trying to force you into a class selection you don't like or is effectively banning Warblade without saying it. Are all the other characters also level 6 because they can't level and need to find an instructor?

I would not go with the partial solution. If he wants your character to be level 6 so be it, it's his choice and he will have to adapt the challenges to fit that lower level. Or he kills your character, and maybe the rest of the party too. See how much fun that is, especially if your character then happens to have a twin brother with the appropriate instructor and two levels of Warblade.

I think really the solution is to talk to your DM and not scenarios like those above. but if that doesn't work, I'd suggest playing with his arbitrary limits to full effect. It's his world and his game and his limits, it's not your fault that your character is level 6 fighting level 8 challenges.

5e should strongly stay away from "I don't like it, so you can't have it either."

I once asked the question (in D&D 3.5) "Does a Druid4/Wizard3/ArcaneHierophant1 have Wildshape?". Jesse Decker and Andy Collins: Yes and the text is clear and can't be interpreted differently. Rich Redman and Ed Stark: No and the text is clear and can't be interpreted differently. Skip Williams: Lol, it's worded ambiguously and entirely not how I intended it. (Cust. Serv. Reference# 050815-000323)

I didn't think of that, AmericanRoulette. It would be ideal for my original design and I'm only partially deferring levels that way.

I would still think it rather sucks as a compromise. I don't like your DMs rule, it sounds very arbitrary. He seems to be trying to force you into a class selection you don't like or is effectively banning Warblade without saying it. Are all the other characters also level 6 because they can't level and need to find an instructor?

I would not go with the partial solution. If he wants your character to be level 6 so be it, it's his choice and he will have to adapt the challenges to fit that lower level. Or he kills your character, and maybe the rest of the party too. See how much fun that is, especially if your character then happens to have a twin brother with the appropriate instructor and two levels of Warblade.

I think really the solution is to talk to your DM and not scenarios like those above. but if that doesn't work, I'd suggest playing with his arbitrary limits to full effect. It's his world and his game and his limits, it's not your fault that your character is level 6 fighting level 8 challenges.

The other characters are level 6 barbarian/2 fighter, 5 ranger/2 fighter/1 order of the bow initiate, and 8 cleric. His argument is fighter is simple and allows multiclassing freely but warblade is much more complex because of maneuvers So he requires me to find a trainer.

The other characters are level 6 barbarian/2 fighter, 5 ranger/2 fighter/1 order of the bow initiate, and 8 cleric. His argument is fighter is simple and allows multiclassing freely but warblade is much more complex because of maneuvers So he requires me to find a trainer.

So how did the Ranger/Fighter get into the OotBI? I mean if there was a trainer for that certainly you can find a trainer for Warblade. What's that? You mean the one guy doesn't NEED someone to train him to enter a PRESTIGE class yet you can not multiclass into a BASE class which anyone could start it at first level?

Normally I'll just ignore this post because of your outragous stats. (Yes they are outrageous at an equivalent of point buy 53 when something under 30 is normal so your stats are like normal stats with an extra +3 or so added on.) Despite that I'm going to say your DM is being unneedly restrictive. If your group optimizes like some board members would have you do you should have one amazing character (the Cleric 8) and then a couple potentially competent characters and then your fighter down at the bottom. The fighter may be a "bare bones" class but by definition it is not easier or harder to get levels in the any other base class including Warblade or even Wizard.

The other characters are level 6 barbarian/2 fighter, 5 ranger/2 fighter/1 order of the bow initiate, and 8 cleric. His argument is fighter is simple and allows multiclassing freely but warblade is much more complex because of maneuvers So he requires me to find a trainer.

So how did the Ranger/Fighter get into the OotBI? I mean if there was a trainer for that certainly you can find a trainer for Warblade. What's that? You mean the one guy doesn't NEED someone to train him to enter a PRESTIGE class yet you can not multiclass into a BASE class which anyone could start it at first level?

Normally I'll just ignore this post because of your outragous stats. (Yes they are outrageous at an equivalent of point buy 53 when something under 30 is normal so your stats are like normal stats with an extra +3 or so added on.) Despite that I'm going to say your DM is being unneedly restrictive. If your group optimizes like some board members would have you do you should have one amazing character (the Cleric 8) and then a couple potentially competent characters and then your fighter down at the bottom. The fighter may be a "bare bones" class but by definition it is not easier or harder to get levels in the any other base class including Warblade or even Wizard.

The DM just does the normal 4d6 drop the lowest for ability scores and that's what I got. Anyway, I understand the concerns over my DM but this is the way things are

A straight 4d6 averages 14 with a slight deviations. Here you average more then 15 with just one score barely below the 14 average. All of this is completely IGNORING a dropped die on the ability roll. Another example of why rolled stats are problematic for consistency and potentially balance.

I'm with draco1119 on this. Taking 2 levels of barbarian can get you Pounce and Improved Trip, the best melee ability in the game and a runner up.

If you can managed to qualify for Knockback, that feat could be potentially more devastating than Leap Attack (especially if you are not allowed to execute Leap Attack while flying or due to low ceilings) by letting you Trip an opponent (or have them stand next to a wall) and then Bull Rush them with a full attack into the surface leaving them embedded in a crater or any of the more general tactics of playing golf with your enemies. When I used the combo, my DM ruled that for each 10' of movement the surface blocked I could add an additional d6 to the attack (and with the bull rush bonuses that Shocktrooper can grant that was a Rogue's worth of d6s) but as my DM's interpretation is not RAW, be wary on that point.

All that being said though, Leap Attack is generally considered a good investment and superior in Non-Dungeoncrasher Pounce/Power Attack builds.

My dm compromised and is allowing me to multiclass into crusader since it's abilities are just flashes of divine inspiration and it even says in the text that they have no schools or formal training, and I could've learned about it from our cleric. Also I play a sort of religious fighter who prays in character often So the devotion is there. I prefer the way warblade uses maneuvers but oh well I suppose.

Don't complain, dood. He just turned you into a Lockdown beast! Your first stance MUST be a 1st-level stance, but your second stance is going to be Thicket of Blades. Seriously, this works out well for you. All you need now is Improved Trip, Defensive Sweep, Stand Still, and some way of getting bigger.

"Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter." -Condoleezza Rice
"My fellow Americans... I've just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. Bombing begins in five minutes." - Ronald Reagan
This user has been banned from you by the letters "O-R-C" and the numbers "2, 3, 4, and 6"

I do, however, have one last lesson on this subject.
That last one? The only build in this post that can one-shot average opponents[by dealing twice as much damage as they have HP?
I would argue that it is not optimized.
Why isn't it optimized?
Because it's overkill.
Overkill is NOT optimizing.
This means that there are portions of this build dedicated to damage which can safely be removed and thrown elsewhere. For example, you probably don't need both Leap Attack AND Headlong Rush at the same time. You could pick up Extra Rage feats for stamina, feats to support AoO effects, feats that work towards potential prestige classes, and so on.
However, you could also shift our ability scores around somewhat.
I mean, if you're getting results like that with 16 starting Strength, maybe you can lower it to 14, and free up four points to spend somewhere else - perhaps back into Charisma, giving you some oomph for Intimidating Rage or Imperious Command if you want.
You can continue to tune this until it deals "enough" damage - and that "enough" does not need to be "100%". It could easily be, say, 80% (leaving the rest to the team), if your DM is the sort who would ban one-hit killers.

Tempest_Stormwind on Character Optimization

So when do you think Bachmann will be saying she met a mother the previous night that had a son who got a blood transfusion using a gay guy's blood, and now the son is retardedly gay?

Don't complain, dood. He just turned you into a Lockdown beast! Your first stance MUST be a 1st-level stance, but your second stance is going to be Thicket of Blades. Seriously, this works out well for you. All you need now is Improved Trip, Defensive Sweep, Stand Still, and some way of getting bigger.

Should I get combat reflexes for thicket of blades and defensive rebuke or combat expertise first?

It's also in the SRD. Just point it out to him on there, and be sure to point out that it's non-psionic (as is Greater Manyshot).

"Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter." -Condoleezza Rice
"My fellow Americans... I've just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. Bombing begins in five minutes." - Ronald Reagan
This user has been banned from you by the letters "O-R-C" and the numbers "2, 3, 4, and 6"

I do, however, have one last lesson on this subject.
That last one? The only build in this post that can one-shot average opponents[by dealing twice as much damage as they have HP?
I would argue that it is not optimized.
Why isn't it optimized?
Because it's overkill.
Overkill is NOT optimizing.
This means that there are portions of this build dedicated to damage which can safely be removed and thrown elsewhere. For example, you probably don't need both Leap Attack AND Headlong Rush at the same time. You could pick up Extra Rage feats for stamina, feats to support AoO effects, feats that work towards potential prestige classes, and so on.
However, you could also shift our ability scores around somewhat.
I mean, if you're getting results like that with 16 starting Strength, maybe you can lower it to 14, and free up four points to spend somewhere else - perhaps back into Charisma, giving you some oomph for Intimidating Rage or Imperious Command if you want.
You can continue to tune this until it deals "enough" damage - and that "enough" does not need to be "100%". It could easily be, say, 80% (leaving the rest to the team), if your DM is the sort who would ban one-hit killers.

Tempest_Stormwind on Character Optimization

So when do you think Bachmann will be saying she met a mother the previous night that had a son who got a blood transfusion using a gay guy's blood, and now the son is retardedly gay?

It's also in the SRD. Just point it out to him on there, and be sure to point out that it's non-psionic (as is Greater Manyshot).

But Psionics are also in the SRD and while Great Manyshot and Stand Still may be in there they are NOT located with the rest of the feats. At least they aren't in the SRD version I use.

Or in the offical text files that are the real SRD (we all use online mirrors with links; those are all ease-of-use versions of the actual text files). Those feats are in the file with psionics, just like how there are normal feats in with the Deities file.

If your DM is banning the book (all parts of it, even the nonpsionic bits that are perfectly plausible - there's literally no thematic difference between Stand Still and using Improved Trip on an AoO, for instance, since both of them are you striking a moving target and saying "stop"), despite the content being readily available, I hope he has a very good reason. Because there just plain isn't a mechanical reason for that ban.

It's also in the SRD. Just point it out to him on there, and be sure to point out that it's non-psionic (as is Greater Manyshot).

But Psionics are also in the SRD and while Great Manyshot and Stand Still may be in there they are NOT located with the rest of the feats. At least they aren't in the SRD version I use.

Or in the offical text files that are the real SRD (we all use online mirrors with links; those are all ease-of-use versions of the actual text files). Those feats are in the file with psionics, just like how there are normal feats in with the Deities file.

If your DM is banning the book (all parts of it, even the nonpsionic bits that are perfectly plausible - there's literally no thematic difference between Stand Still and using Improved Trip on an AoO, for instance, since both of them are you striking a moving target and saying "stop"), despite the content being readily available, I hope he has a very good reason. Because there just plain isn't a mechanical reason for that ban.

Well he just prefers to prohibit the book than dice threads of what can and cannot be used from each book.

Not a good reason. If he wants to ban all psionics, that's fine (it took me a while to warm up to them after bad experiences in 2e), but there are a few very good non-psionic feats in there that he SHOULD allow, especially since they're available elsewhere.

"Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter." -Condoleezza Rice
"My fellow Americans... I've just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. Bombing begins in five minutes." - Ronald Reagan
This user has been banned from you by the letters "O-R-C" and the numbers "2, 3, 4, and 6"

I do, however, have one last lesson on this subject.
That last one? The only build in this post that can one-shot average opponents[by dealing twice as much damage as they have HP?
I would argue that it is not optimized.
Why isn't it optimized?
Because it's overkill.
Overkill is NOT optimizing.
This means that there are portions of this build dedicated to damage which can safely be removed and thrown elsewhere. For example, you probably don't need both Leap Attack AND Headlong Rush at the same time. You could pick up Extra Rage feats for stamina, feats to support AoO effects, feats that work towards potential prestige classes, and so on.
However, you could also shift our ability scores around somewhat.
I mean, if you're getting results like that with 16 starting Strength, maybe you can lower it to 14, and free up four points to spend somewhere else - perhaps back into Charisma, giving you some oomph for Intimidating Rage or Imperious Command if you want.
You can continue to tune this until it deals "enough" damage - and that "enough" does not need to be "100%". It could easily be, say, 80% (leaving the rest to the team), if your DM is the sort who would ban one-hit killers.

Tempest_Stormwind on Character Optimization

So when do you think Bachmann will be saying she met a mother the previous night that had a son who got a blood transfusion using a gay guy's blood, and now the son is retardedly gay?